NT-WA quarantine station.
HOW IT BEGAN
It started for us in mid-February 2020. We
had made arrangements for a three-week
house sit in Katherine, NT. The couple whose
house we were minding had planned a cruise
through Asia. At the time, the COVID 19 virus
had taken hold throughout China and there
were fears that it was spreading rapidly.
On the day before our hosts were due to leave,
the cruiseline cancelled their trip. Not wanting
to waste their holidays, they hastily
reorganised their trip and left as planned.
While COVID 19 was a hassle for our hosts, it
didn’t affect us at the time. In hindsight, it was
probably an indication of what was to come.
Our travel plans were flexible. We had to be in
Broome by April, where we had organised a
west-coast adventure, including the Horizontal
Falls, Ningaloo, whale shark swims and station
stays along the Western Australia coast.
Between Katherine and Broome, we were
going to have a leisurely trip across the Top
End, visiting places like Fitzroy Crossing, Lake
Argyle and Derby. There was no hurry, given
we planned to leave Katherine in the third
week of March.
As we left Katherine, the COVID 19 crisis was
worsening quickly. International travel was
banned, travellers were being urged to
reconsider their plans for the annual grey-
nomad migration, and people were dying from
the virus. It was all very confronting.
By the time we arrived at Lake Argyle, there
was talk of state borders closing across
Australia. We reasoned that because we were
already in the state we planned to travel, we
did not need to be concerned about these
developments.
We had plenty of time up our sleeves so we
decided to stay at Lake Argyle for a couple of
weeks. At least we could show we had been
isolated in WA for at least 14 days.